<
s
c

s
Home / SmellyBlog / Tagged: Black Licorice Perfume

SmellyBlog

Black Licorice Soaps Are Ready!

Black Licorice Soaps Are Ready!

Even witches need to bathe from time to time, and what better soap than Black Licorice?

I am thrilled to share with you that my colourful, limited edition Black Licorice soaps are ready (after the customary curing time of 4 weeks), and are available online for you to order. If you love this dark, sticky candy with its sweet and mysterious aroma, you will love Black Licorice soap!

These special-edition soaps make quite an eye candy with all the colourful botanicals that I used to dye it in shades that allude to the colourful Allsorts licorice candy. It is witchy and haunting in both its appearance and scent.

For those familiar with my Black Licorice perfume, this is a bit different fragrance, more dark and similar to the European style candy, with hints of Sen-Sen candy.

 
When these run out of stock, I probably won't be bothering with the fancy, colourful designs... I made 4 different styles and they are all gorgeous! So if you love the colours you should get them now!

Choisya for the Lost Souls



Choisya in October: what a strange sight & smell in the the fall. Rare for them to bloom here in autumn. It's usually freezing cold by the end of October, but not this year. 
 
The contrast of heliotropin and methyl anthranilate on a backdrop of ripe rosehips and fallen leaves is intriguing and surprising. Choisya (AKA Mexican orange or mock orange blossom) is my flower of choice for Day of the Dead. And if I were Mexican I would probably anoint an altar with Old Spice in memory of my grandfather. Instead, I went to the Parade of Lost Souls and sprayed Black Licorice perfumer all around.

Everything Licorice

What could possibly be more spooky and appropriate for Halloween than licorice?

Both the candy, aroma and Black Licorice perfume, which incorporates sweet notes of rockrose, honey and rose with licorice-drenched star anise, coconutty tarragon absolute and a hint of patchouli.

However, Licorice flavour is not limited to the candy and root alone. The aroma actually exists in aniseed, licorice root, star anise, fennel seeds, leaves and bulb, and herbs such as tarragon and some varieties of basil.

Indigo has violet and anise, an unusual combination that has become somewhat of a classic since the legendary l'Heure Bleue, and is even paired in violet-anise pastilles, but also caraway seeds, which have an air of mystery about them and are used in breads and harvest seed cakes (I even used them in my Madeleine seed cakes), and also tarragon, which has a greener anise note to it.

Vetiver Racinettes also has tarragon, which gives the earthy, dry roots of vetiver a rootbeer-like sweetness.

These aromas of herbs and seeds can all be incorporated into delicious foods during the fall for a warming, savoury-sweet effect. Like I said - licorice is not all about candy!

My ever so popular Tarragon-Fennel tea sandwiches have become somewhat of a classic in my fall tea parties. To make them you will need:

1 Loaf of sliced, dense white or whole wheat bread (such as: brioche or the square breads found in Asian markets - i.e.: T & T and K-Mart)

200gr cream cheese (I prefer the organic cream cheeses, as they are easier to spread and don't have all the extra stabilizers)

2 Tbs. fresh organic tarragon leaves, chopped quite thinly

Grated zest from one (preferably organically-grown) orange

1/4 or 1/2 bulb fennel (depending on size), quartered and sliced thinly

Mixed together the cream cheese, grated orange zest and chopped tarragon leaves.

Spread on both slices.

Sprinkle with one even and thin layer of fennel slices.

Close two slices together and trim away the crusts.

Cut into smaller pieces (i.e.: lengthwise into 3 "finger sandwiches", diagonally into 4 small triangles)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Licorice Notes

Happy Spooky Halloween!

Today will be dedicated to licorice notes – the notes used to flavour the gooey chewy sticky black candy that is of the signature flavours of this holiday. Licorice notes are strange. They are usually either loved or loathed. Very few people have intermediate feelings about them. The peculiar scent of licorice notes is a reconciliation of contrasts: spicy warmth and minty chill; rough dryness with smooth, mouthwatering sweetness. Perhaps it is the sweetness of licorice that is the most peculiar. I used to chew licorice root as a little girl, and it was a completely sugar-free candy, yet felt very sweet. I am saying “felt” rather than “tasted” because I think the licorice aromas cheat on the senses to create an impression of a sweet taste that is not really there.

Licorice root is not the only source for licorice sorcery. In fact, most licorice candies are flavoured with oils of aniseed, star anise and fennel. Anise is the sweetest of all three, and feels warm and diffusive. Its ability to mask odour only adds to its mystique. Star Anise is a tad more dry, clean and spicy in feel. Sweet Fennel is sweet indeed, with a hint of green. Tarragon is another plant with a licorice aroma, only greener and herbal, with a sense of tangy freshness. Tarragon absolute is a thick, syrupy version of tarragon, accentuating the licorice-candy qualities of this herb.

Here are a few perfumes for the licorice lovers amongst us. These may not mask your body odour when you go fishing or ghost busting, but they sure are olfactory stunners thanks to the mystical presence of licorice notes.

Apres l’Ondee might have been one of the very first scents to use aniseed note “out of the box” and in an unusual context. Here, the obscure quality of anise complements the melancholy of violet and orris.

L’Heure Bleue further expanded on this theme, and here the aniseed note is paired with the almost-gourmand almondy notes of heliotrope, sweet violet, carnation and woods.

Lolita Lempica (Au Masculine) makes a definite gourmand statement that is once again paired with violet. Vanilla and rum add sweetness, and woods and cistus add an underlining pine-like masculinity that is maintained through out the composition. The feminine version is just as high on licorice and anise, again paired with violet, only with a slightly different base (vanilla, tonka, musk and vetiver).

Chinatown takes licorice notes to yet an even more extreme sweetness, as star anise and fennel do in the infamous Five Spice. Like a Five Spice salt, Chinatown creates a strange, sweet and warm sensation, balanced by exaggeration as it is paired with even sweeter white florals and peach juice, and a counterpoint of patchouli and vetiver.

Eau de Reglisse, Caron’s most recent addition to their outstanding collection, takes a different route. Here licorice is taken as it is – the dry root – and infused into a refreshing lemonade drink along with litsea cubeba. The licorice is subtle and is revealed once the sparkling lemon notes of litsea have subsided. It is more like chewing licorice roots than the gooey candy. Eau de Reglisse is an interesting eau, while being cool and refreshing still retains the woody warmth of licorice twigs.

More perfumes with licorice notes:
Anice (Etro)
Anisia Bella (Guerlain)
Jean-Paul Gautier Classique (aniseed top note)
Piper Nigrum (Lorenzo Villoresi)
Salvatore Ferragamo for men
Rive Gauche pour homme
Silver Rain
Indigo
Black Licorice
And two of my Zodiac perfumes: Sagittarius and Cancer

Licorice Recipe: CHOCOLATE & LICORICE LIP BALM

A fun activity that is easy to make. Young children will love making it - and using this fragrantly sweet lip treat.

Ingredients:
4 Tbs. almond oil
2.5 Tbs. coconut oil
3 Tbs. beeswax (unbleached), grated
1.5 Tbs. dark chocolate (at least 85%), preferably unsweetened
1 tsp. honey
1 Capsule Vitamin E
10 drops aniseed oil
10 drop sweet orange oil
(or any mixture of these two oils)

Measure and mix all the ingredients except for the essential oils and vitamin E.
In a Bain Marie (double boiler), melt them all down over low-medium heat.
Once all the ingredients have melted, remove from heat and let it slightly cool off.
Add the essential oils and vitamin E, and pour immediatley into containers. Make sure the consistency is neither too liquid nor too hard to touch and use.
Back to the top